


Landing

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-04-28
Updated: 2003-04-28
Packaged: 2017-11-01 08:13:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/354239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Hub 381.  Lionel's still blind here, I like him that way.  This is what happened when Clark and Lex came home from meeting Clark's family, and I mean family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Landing

## Landing

by La Chatte Noire

[]()

* * *

This is a sequel, of sorts, of Hub 381. I was asked more than a few times what happened when Clark, Lex, and Kala-Ai made it back to Earth. Hence, this takes place between the main story and the epilogue, to answer those questions. The epilogue at the end of this one takes place after Hub 381's epilogue, but you'll be able to figure that out by reading it. This makes no sense without having first (and recently) read Hub 381. I apologize for none of this and did no less research here than I did for Hub 381. Oh, and although I do own the Galactic Council, the Silver Star, the Hub, and their entire civilization, I own nothing based on Earth, not even Kal-El. 

Feed me. 

* * *

After two months of floating randomly in space, anyone would get a little weird, especially if one of those were a pregnant Kryptonian male. And especially the husband of said male, thought Lex Luthor. 

"All I'm saying Lex is maybe we can get Kala-Ai out of her chambers for a little bit so I can talk to her about the food on this ship," said Clark Kent once again. "I mean, rations are doable, but what I wouldn't give for a nice chocolate milkshake poured over a basket of curly fries. Doesn't that sound good, Lex?" 

Lex wordlessly got up and pounded on the door leading to Kala-Ai's chambers. "Your pregnant nephew is requesting weird foods again," he said loudly through to door. 

Said door opened. "You're the one who got him pregnant, Lex Luthor," Kala-Ai said smugly. She moved toward the pilot's seat and looked at various instruments, adjusting her course as necessary. "We're going to be landing in a few days so I wish you would stop speaking Standard. I really do need to learn this language you call `English.' I prefer to learn by listening." 

"Very well, Kala-Ai," Clark said happily, "that means we can turn on the radio!" 

"The what?" 

"You had said you had created a device that picked up local radio waves. It's called a radio on Earth. I know you still have it, I'll go find it!" 

Kala-Ai looked at Lex. "Is he always this weird?" she asked. 

"He can be," Lex answered. "It's been enhanced by the pregnancy or the time we've been in space or both. It's best if you just go with it." 

"Are you sure?" 

"What else can we do other than go nuts ourselves?" 

"Good point." A whoop of triumph sounded in the hold. "I hear he found his `radio.'" 

"Yep. Now the fun part comes." 

* * *

After an hour of arguing they had agreed on a rotation. The three of them would get the radio for six hours a day, leaving six hours for it to cool down. Kala-Ai usually listened to talk radio for the language, Lex alternated between the financial news and various stations of hard rock and techno, and Clark preferred his alt-rock. 

Before they knew it, they had passed both of Earth's moons. The proximity alarm brought Kala-Ai to the pilot's chair as she swerved to avoid a black and white craft later described by Lex as a `space shuttle.' Kala-Ai pulled out of the swerve in a meteoritic way, falling in controlled chaos toward the general Midwestern United States. 

The ship tumbled forever until it all ended in a bone-jarring thud. Clark and Lex looked up from their seats and glared at Kala-Ai. "What?" she asked. "It's protocol to look like a meteorite on primitive radar. After night comes and before scientists appear we'll leave." 

"You mean there's no radar scrambler or anything? No cloaking device?" Clark asked. 

"Radar varies too much between primitive planets and cloaking devices are too expensive for a military class passenger ship. Only spy ships and war ships have access to cloaking technology." 

"What if something goes wrong? What if the scientists come before we leave?" Lex asked, filing away the information for later review. 

"It's never happened to me before, but it happened to a friend of mine. His ship was taken away, with him in it, to some lab on Zosma Prime. He flew off when they weren't looking, but truth be told we did laugh at him for weeks." 

They all silenced quickly as a metallic tapping was heard from outside. They looked at each other in ironic fear. 

* * *

"Hey, whatcha found there Bob?" Bill asked when he saw his brother Bob tapping something with the muzzle of his shotgun. 

"Dunno, Bill. It's somethin' metal. Hot, too." Bob looked up. "Go get Pa, we mighta found somethin' big here." Bill nodded and jumped on his dirt bike and rode off. 

Bob continued tapping on the metal until his tapping brought a cascade of dirt down from the side, revealing a smooth steel-like surface and strange markings. "What the?" he asked himself. He dropped his gun and reached out to touch them. 

* * *

"Scans are showing one human around the airlock," Kala-Ai whispered. "What do you think we should do?" 

"You're the traveler, you should know more than us," Clark whispered frantically. 

"Look, whoever they are they probably already know this is a space ship, I mean who wouldn't?" Lex whispered calmly. "I say we abduct them, wipe their memories, and get the hell out of here, protocol be damned. There have been UFO sightings before; we'll just be one more." 

"Good idea," Kala-Ai approved and opened the airlock. A landfall of dirt fell in, bringing in the human, minus his shotgun. Clark led Lex to the hold and got things ready. 

* * *

Bob fell through a hole in the ground that had opened up beneath him. As he looked up toward the light above, the hole closed. A musical tittering behind him caught his attention. He turned around. 

And he screamed. 

* * *

Bill and Pa rode up to the crash site in Pa's pickup truck just in time to see the Silver Star lift from the crater and fly low and fast to the south. They searched the crash site and found no trace of Bob, save his shotgun. They rode home in a panic to call the police. 

* * *

Bob woke up in the hold of the ship, tied to a table. He squinted into the darkness and thought he saw movement. "Hello?" he asked tentatively. 

A low groan reached his ears. 

"Is someone there?" Bob asked fearfully. 

"Are you real?" asked a soft voice from the darkness. 

"What are you?" Bob asked. 

"I'm human, that's why they took me," said the voice. "Oh, thank God, I had thought I would never be found. I thought I would never be rescued." The voice took on a hopeful tone. 

"I'm sorry bud, but I'm tied to a table or something." 

The hope in the voice fell. "That's alright. I knew it was too late for me. I knew it was all too good to be true." A pause. "I'm Alexander. What's your name?" 

"I'm Robert but everyone calls me Bob." 

"Pleased to meet you, Bob. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to." 

"How long have you been here, Alexander?" 

Alexander sighed. "I don't remember anymore. It's been so long I can't tell day from night." 

"It's March 6th, 2003." 

Alexander grew quiet. "I've been here four months," he said softly. "It feels so much longer than that." 

"What do they do to you?" Bob's voice grew fearful. 

"You don't want to know." 

The door to the bridge opened and Clark walked in, fully alien. He tried not to waddle with the weight of his distended belly, but he didn't do too well. He stood next to one of the tables, the one imprisoning Alexander. He spoke in Standard so Lex would understand. 

"Well, Lex, this is a weird situation we're in. Kala-Ai has hidden us in a pond for the day, the only witnesses this time were a herd of horses and they won't tell. We're going to keep the human with us for about half the night then wipe his memory and drop him off, but only if the area we found him in is clear. He can feed the locals the general half-baked abduction story that usually gets passed around. After we drop him off we'll head south and find a different pond to sit in for the day. She thinks we'll get to Smallville sometime tomorrow night. We'll leave a circle showing were we are and why near Edge City so as not to draw human attention to Smallville. 

"I think talking to this human is a really funky idea, but it'll work and it'll work well. However, in order for it to work I'll need to do an experiment of some kind to back up your story. Somehow, I think a probe is in order. Be sure to scream, Love. I know it'll be a poor substitute to the real thing, but I promise I'll give you a real probing after we get rid of the human. I'll be back with the probe, Love." Clark waddled off. 

"What are they gonna do?" Bob asked fearfully. 

"I've been here long enough to understand snatches of their language," Alexander's voice quickened with an anticipation that was interpreted as nervousness. "They're going to work on me again. I'm sorry in advance for anything you might hear." 

Clark listened to Lex's anticipation and grinned. His grin turned to chirping laughter as he heard the human called Bob begin to whimper in fear. He grabbed several tools from a trunk: lube, a long dildo, clamps, and some of the stranger looking Kryptonian sex toys from Kala-Ai's stash. He carried them to Lex's table and began to set up. He grabbed one of Lex's nipples in a clamp and grinned at the groan of torturous pain he faked so well. 

Lex looked up at his lover and grinned. They ignored Bob's whimpers of fear and pleas for mercy as Clark greased the dildo. "Scream," he said softly in Standard as he eased it into Lex's ass. 

Lex screamed loudly, moving Bob to tears with his pleas. 

Lex spread his legs wider to accommodate the intrusion as Clark tied the first of three silk harnesses around his lover, entrapping his cock and balls. Clark grinned at his handiwork and ran his hands down Lex's sides, savoring the feel of straining muscles. He dug his fingers under the ribcage slightly and reached the only ticklish spot on Lex's body. Again, Lex screamed, this time for mercy. 

The door to the bridge opened again and Kala-Ai stood in the doorway, framed by the dim lights of the crystal consoles. Lex saw her and groaned. "Not her, not now," he pleaded in Standard. 

Bob picked this up. "Alexander?" he asked shrilly, tentatively. 

Clark linked with Lex for a second, telling him how to handle the human, and walked out, leaving everything as it was. Lex prepared for some storytelling. 

"No, Kal-El, don't leave me like this!" Lex pleaded in Standard. "I'm going to get you for this, Kal-El. As soon as this human is gone, I'm going to get you for this." 

"I look forward to it," Clark answered seductively, also in Standard. He exited the hold and the door closed. 

Alexander groaned with frustration and tried to relax into the table but was held in a rather arousing position by the harness. 

"Alexander?" Bob asked again, this time with more force. "Are you alright?" 

"No, I'm not alright," Alexander ground out. "Every now and then the pregnant alien, Kal-El, probes me for something, they won't tell me what. And every time the other alien, Kala-Ai, interrupts her in the middle of the probe and they head off to that room over there and leave me here with all their equipment inside me for the longest time." 

Bob shivered. "How did you say those things?" he asked fearfully. 

"I've been here long enough; I've learned some of their language." 

"You said you knew enough to understand them, not talk with them!" 

"So I left that part out. Big deal! The point is, if I were really one of them, would they be doing this to me?!" 

Bob sighed as he fell defeated. "No, they wouldn't. I'm sorry, Alexander, after all that you must have gone through you don't need me questioning your loyalties." 

Alexander sighed. "I know, Bob, you were scared. I used to be like that, scared of what they would do to me. Then they did it all and I lived through it." He paused. "I don't think I could fear anything now." 

A thought struck Bob. "You said `the pregnant alien.' What do you know about it?" 

"One of the first things they did was to take a sperm sample from me and impregnate Kal-El with it. It's my child. It's also how they take over worlds. They created hybrids, some on the world they're trying to conquer, some they keep as their own. They raise an army of hybrids directly or remotely, using our own governments against us. The hybrids take political office and take control of the planet, handing us over when the armada comes to finish the job. They had said the next human they encountered would carry a hybrid fathered by Kala-Ai." Alexander paused. "Oh, God, Bob, I'm sorry. There is something they haven't done to me. They haven't made me pregnant. I'm so sorry." 

Bob's eyes grew wide. "No, they can't," he whispered. His whispers grew into screams. "No, no, No, NOOOO!!!!!" 

At this, Clark and Kala-Ai entered from the bridge, Kala-Ai holding a large syringe full of a clear yellow fluid, Clark holding a large array of surgical tools. They descended silently on him, readying the syringe over his thigh. Clark jabbed him hard, injecting the fluid quickly. 

The last thing Bob knew was the feel of a blade pressing into his abdomen. 

* * *

Bob woke up on the side of the road near his home with a massive headache, almost twelve hours of missing time, and a curious half-healed cut from his underwear line to the bottom of his sternum. His last memories were of racing dirt bikes with Bill. He wandered home, wondering why his thigh ached so badly. 

* * *

Clark, Lex, and Kala-Ai sat on the bridge of the Silver Star in a pond a few miles outside of Kansas, laughing. 

"He really believed everything?" Clark asked through giggles. 

"He was utterly convinced I was being tortured and that he was about to become pregnant," Lex said seriously before bursting out into laughter again. 

"How did he feel about Alexander?" Kala-Ai asked. 

"He pitied me at first and then he feared more for himself than anything," Lex said tiredly. He lost his fatigue with a single thought. "Clark, about that probe..." 

"What about it?" Clark asked with mock innocence. 

Kala-Ai retreated discreetly to her chambers to let the two get on with it. 

"You owe me a good probing, Clark," Lex said seductively. 

Clark took his human form, the best for seducing Lex. "And where shall I probe you, human?" he asked with a dominant gleam in his eyes. 

"Shouldn't I be restrained for this?" 

Clark grinned and got up, dragging Lex toward the hold. He lowered Lex onto the same dissection table he had been tied to before, snapping the restraints back into place around his wrists. Clark then lowered himself onto Lex's body. 

"Mmm, you feel good," Lex moaned at the weight of his lover. 

"It'll feel even better if we take off these clothes," Clark said, grinning. He sat up, earning a whimper of protest, and removed his shirt. He undid Lex's so even though he couldn't take it off because of the restraints they could still lay chest-to-chest. Clark lowered himself back onto Lex's chest and they savored the feel for a time until Lex got impatient and thrust his hard cock into Clark's hip. 

Clark sat up again. "Well now, impatient are we?" Lex gave Clark a look in response. "Very well then." Clark undid the clasp that held the alien equivalent of pants on his hips. He shoved them off and crawled up Lex's body. 

Clark crouched over Lex's face. "I'm not quite ready to probe you, human. I'll need you to get my instruments primed." Lex snickered at the corny excuse for a blow job and lapped his tongue over the head of Clark's cock. Clark groaned and lowered himself further, letting gravity take over and his entire shaft to slip into Lex's waiting mouth. 

Lex moaned happily as Clark buried himself to the hilt in his mouth, not even fully aware of it the pleasure was so great. Lex sucked hard once before pulling his head back and up, causing Clark to slip out with a pop. "You are more than ready, Clark. Any more ready and I won't get probed," he said, giving Clark a highly practical look. 

Clark pierced the haze surrounding him to see Lex regarding him with something like innocence. "I must probe you, human, if only to remove that false innocence," Clark said with mock seriousness. Lex grinned. Clark moved down Lex's body to pull the rest of his clothing off, nuzzling his cock and balls as he passed them. Lex gasped at the contact and again when it stopped. 

As soon as Clark had Lex naked for all intent and purposes he spread Lex's legs and had them shackled in a spread-eagle position. Lex noticed. "Is there any particular reason why there are restraints right there, Clark?" he asked. 

"Actually, there's a long story involving twisted scientists, alien abductions, and military class spacecraft, but since we're a little pressed for time, I'll leave it for later." Clark slipped his fingers into his own female opening to get some lubrication as he said this and punctuated the ending of his statement by pressing said fingers into Lex's opening. 

Lex arched back toward the intrusion. "I agree," he said breathlessly before the questing fingers found his prostate and he groaned. 

Clark grinned and reached within himself again for more lube. He pressed a newly slickened finger to Lex's lips. "You know what this is, don't you Lex." It wasn't a question. 

Lex flicked his tongue out and tasted the silvery-sweet taste of Clark's sex. Lex's response was to draw that finger into his mouth and suck every trace of the silver taste from Clark's skin. 

Clark groaned at Lex's reaction and slipped his first hand inside himself. He pulled out his slickened hand and rubbed up and down his cock. When he was good and ready, he pushed himself inside Lex's willing body. 

"So tight, Lex," Clark mumbled hazily. "I need to thrust a bit to get my probe deep enough." 

What little part of working mind Lex had left groaned at the absurdity of it all. The rest turned around and told it to shut up and enjoy the ride. "Thrust all you need, Clark," Lex said around Clark's fingers. "Get as deep as you can go." 

Clark responded with a thrust that had Lex squirming, silently begging for more. Soon Clark had built up a rhythm that had Lex screaming for more...deeper...harder. 

All too soon, Clark's thrusts became erratic and he came deep in Lex's ass, spilling a load of alien sperm and screaming Lex's name. Lex came an instant later, come splattering high on his chest. 

When the shock subsided, they looked at each other. Logic returned to them. "So, how was the anal probe?" Clark asked before they both burst out laughing. 

"Remind me to get abducted by you more often if this is the probing I'll get," Lex said with a grin as Clark undid the restraints. 

"Does this mean if you abduct me you'll return the favor?" Clark asked, grinning. 

"Of course, but we'll have to wait until after-" Lex's lighthearted grin faded as he mentioned the baby. He looked up to see Clark's eyes down, forlorn. "I'm sorry, Clark," Lex said softly. "I didn't mean to bring this up." 

"No, it's ok. It's not your fault and we need to talk about it sometime." Clark sighed. "It's just that, we're going to have a baby, a child we both created and before it's truly born we're going to be forced to give it up. We're never going to be able to watch our own child hatch and grow and play and learn and grow up. I know he, she, whatever, will be in good hands with Kala-Ai, but this is ours, Lex, and we can't keep it because a government we hadn't even heard of six months ago has staked a claim on me and everything I have and everyone I love. I wish things were different." 

Lex wrapped his arms around Clark and stroked his hair. "I know, Love. I feel the same way. I wish I could be there for everything our child will experience, to feel everything for the first time through our child's senses, but it's not possible. I wish, just once, fate would trust me." 

Clark smiled weakly and nuzzled Lex. "Fate entrusted you with me, didn't she?" he asked softly. 

Lex sighed softly. "Yes, she did." 

"One step at a time, Lex, let her trust you one step at a time." 

They held each other close, basking in each other's comfort for a long time. 

* * *

Kala-Ai walked into the hold with Clark and Lex's rations for the day. She found them wrapped around each other lovingly, asleep. She smiled and set the tray down on a near table and rubbed her nephew's shoulder. Clark sighed and snuggled closer to Lex. 

Jor-El and Lara were like that, she thought. Zor-La and I used to be like that. What changed? Why did we drift apart so? 

Maybe while you were separated you forgot how to love each other, came a voice in her mind. Kala-Ai looked down into the open, wise eyes of Kal-El. 

They linked so as not to wake Lex. "What do you mean, Kal-El?" Kala-Ai asked. 

Clark explained the situation as he had seen it. "When we met her you used her as a way of announcing our arrival legally. I've gathered from her thoughts and yours that you don't see each other much. You seem to have taken each other for granted." 

"She'll always be there for me; that is a part of the Pledge." 

"Is this solely because of the Pledge or because of the love you share?" 

Kala-Ai couldn't answer. 

Clark continued. "I know a relationship over distances is hard to maintain, despite the Pledge you made to each other. As such, you need to show her that you love her in every way possible, not just physically." 

"Why?" 

"Kala-Ai, the Pledge is a joining of spirit, mind, and body in that order. It should be maintained in that order. First cultivate your love for her, then your friendship, then finally your sexual lives. Otherwise the Pledging will fall apart as though incomplete." 

A thought of Lex popped into someone's head, neither was sure which. "You and your mate seem to be doing well enough just developing your sexual lives," Kala-Ai pointed out. 

"Lex and I have been friends since the day we met," Clark answered. "Our friendship was developed enough for love to blossom from it. Humans have a way of developing both love and sex at the same time. Our Pledge is at current fully stable. When it starts to fall, we will work together to bring it back, first through love, then through friendship, and finally through sex. Basing a long-Pledged couple on the successes of a newly mated pairing is not an intelligent thing to do, Kala-Ai. You need to work this out yourself." 

Kala-Ai sighed. She let her hands fall, breaking the link. "I know, Kal-El, but it's so hard. I know she loves me, but sometimes we both think maybe it'd be easier to let the Pledge fall apart." 

"It probably would be easier, but remember this. Love is worth fighting for, no matter the cost. I know you two love each other deeply. If you both work with that love you'll already have the first step done." 

Kala-Ai looked him in the eye and hugged him. "You're as wise as your mother," she said softly. 

Clark smiled. "Thank you," he said. 

The family moment was interrupted when Lex groaned and stretched as he slowly woke up. As soon as his eyes were open Clark and Kala-Ai grabbed him and pulled him into a three-way hug. Ok, Lex thought, this is different. He relaxed into the hug, soothed by Clark's presence in it and was returning the hug when Kala-Ai pulled away. "It's sunset, I'm going to go get the ship ready," she said gruffly and hurried back to the bridge. 

"Now then, what was that about?" Lex asked after the door closed behind her. 

"Kala-Ai is having relationship problems," Clark explained. "She and Zor-La are drifting apart and she wants to save their Pledge." 

"Isn't the Pledge permanent?" 

"Can a person mate with any person other than their Pledged mate? No. Will a person crave their Pledged mate for the rest of their lives? Yes. Can a person leave a Pledge, resulting in general unhappiness and oftentimes insanity? Yes. A Pledge does not keep two people from ever leaving one another; it only makes it infinitely more desirable to stay together. My race Pledges very easily; the Pledge is actually Kryptonian in origin despite the speech about gods and time. For a Kryptonian Pledge to break is almost unheard of." 

"They're the one couple in a million that fails?" 

"They don't want it to fail. I gave Kala-Ai a few ideas that might help, basically to remember her vows and her love. Lex, I'm going to give her our child." 

Lex looked at him in confused shock. "Are you sure? Is a child really what's best for them?" 

"She tried to get custody. They really want a child, Lex. Also, it'll get Zor-La home every now and then. After my little stunt Council agreed to let me have the last word out of a list of candidates. We did make sure Kala-Ai's name was there, for this very reason." 

"Clark, are you sure this is what's best for our baby?" 

"Lex, I don't trust the Council itself. Who knows what they'll do to our baby? With Zor-La she'll be protected and will have a background of politics. She'll need it to survive in the galaxy at large and on Earth. Kala-Ai is twisted at times, but she does know how to love. Zor-La is much more good natured, also very capable of love. Lex, our baby'll have everything it'll need: love, caring, and close enough so that we can check up on them, especially after I begin deceiving this world. Please, Lex, I won't do this without your approval. This is your child, too." 

"Let's not decide this now, Clark," Lex said soothingly. "We'll take this up with your parents as well, after all this is their first grandchild." 

"If they'll take me back," Clark said gloomily. He perked up at something. "Hey, Lex, what did you mean `first grandchild?'" 

"That will be up to you to decide when you're ready," Lex said lovingly. 

Clark grinned and wrapped his arms around him. 

Kala-Ai opened the door. "We're lifting off now, hold on," she called back as the ship swayed slightly, signaling a liftoff. They were on their way home, to Smallville. 

* * *

After a pair of crop circles around Edge City, the Silver Star flew low over the fields and landed in the pond on the Kent farm. The three travelers swam to the surface and snuck into the farmhouse via a key kept under the doormat. 

"I can't believe you let Clark draw that second circle," Lex said to Kala-Ai. 

"It's not like any of the humans who see it are going to know what it means," Clark defended. "It's written in Standard." 

"But still, Clark, writing `Kilroy was here' in a crop circle is pretty weird," Lex said, exasperated. 

"Who is Kilroy anyway?" Kala-Ai asked, amused by the situation. 

"Long story," both answered. They were about to go back to arguing when a noise upstairs silenced them. The three looked up to see a half-asleep Martha Kent standing on the top stair, rubbing her eyes. She paused and squinted into the darkness below her. "Clark?" she asked. When no answer came she dismissed the voices below as another hopeful dream. She turned around to head back to bed when the first floor lights turned on. She turned around. 

"Mom?" Clark asked when she finally saw them. Her eyes lit up and she ran down the stairs, not daring to speak lest she was imagining this again. Clark wrapped his arms around his mother and held her against his swollen belly. "Mom, I'm home," he whispered into her hair. Martha buried her face in Clark's wet shoulder and sobbed quietly, thanking whatever deities that watched over aliens for her son's safe return. 

Clark ran a hand lightly over her back in comfort. He wasn't surprised when she suddenly straightened up and yelled up the stairs "Jonathon! Wake up, our baby's home!" 

A random groan floated down the stairs. Martha gave it a look and marched upstairs. A minute later Clark, Lex, and Kala-Ai were treated to the sight and sound of Martha physically dragging her husband down the stairs. Clark caught him before he fell. 

Jonathon looked up into the face of his son and stopped his demand for an explanation in mid rant. With a look of fearful astonishment Jonathon reached up and lightly touched his son's face. The hand fell before both arms flew up and wrapped around Clark. 

Clark held his father close as the older man broke down and sobbed openly in fear, happiness, and relief. 

Martha stood behind Clark and rubbed his unoccupied shoulder, tears sparkling in her eyes. 

Kala-Ai and Lex stood on the side feeling uncomfortably out of place. They felt they were intruding on a family moment until Martha wrapped Lex in a hug and Clark grabbed Kala-Ai and pulled her into a hug with his father. 

The five of them stayed basking in each other's presence until Jonathon pulled himself from Clark's embrace and eyed him warily. 

"What did I do now, Dad?" Clark asked, exasperated and in English. "I get home after over 4 months away and you look at me like I'm going to attack or something." 

"I believe the last time you saw each other you were thinking of something like that," Kala-Ai said in English, which earned her surprised looks from Jonathon and Martha. 

"I wasn't thinking of attacking him, I was merely tired of dealing with a 49 year old child." 

Jonathon got up and started to pace the living room. "Don't tell me we're starting exactly where we left off," he said tiredly. 

"That depends, Dad," Clark said. "How do you feel about everything?" 

"Seeing you the way you were before you left scared the shit out of me, Clark. I know your abilities and for a second you looked as though you were ready and willing to destroy us all. You didn't seem to care about anything except Lex and leaving. I thought that if I ever did see you again you'd be commanding an army." 

"I almost was." Martha and Jonathon stared in fear at Clark's words. "Council wanted me as a one-man invasion force. They estimated I would invade and conquer a planet Earth's size and industrial level within two weeks. The three of us pulled a collection of stunts that resulted in me being allowed to return. I've been assigned the task of covertly taking over this world and assimilating it into the galaxy at large. All Lex and I really had to give up was our first born." 

Martha gasped and for the first time really noticed her son's belly. She moved to him, her eyes asking if she could touch it. Clark nodded and she splayed her hand over his stomach, trying to feel the life growing inside him. 

"Is there any reason why you're so firm?" Martha asked as she tried to press on him and found his belly hard as stone. 

"That would be the shell," Kala-Ai said from the sidelines. 

"Shell?" Jonathon asked weakly. 

Kala-Ai paused for a moment then began explaining in Kryptonian which Cark translated into English. "Our species lays eggs. There's a four month internal gestation during which the egg is formed and the child begins developing. After laying, the egg must be incubated for a period of time before it hatches." 

"Wait a minute, `a period of time'? How long of a period of time?" Jonathon asked. 

"Traditionally, the more complex the species, the longer the gestation. Humans require a 9 month gestation; however Kryptonians being more complex require a period of 20 months total. A hybrid will have a gestation of an unknown length. The exact length will depend on which parent it most resembles." 

"So you're saying you have no real idea?" Lex asked. 

"Exactly. However, the first four months are a given since that's a value that the mother's body dictates." 

"The first four months are half over," Clark said. 

"That too." 

"Will we get to see our grandchild?" Martha asked. 

"No, but neither parent is going to see it either," Kala-Ai answered. 

Clark looked at his parents. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad, but it was basically Earth in exchange for my first born. I had to." 

Lex got an idea to draw the others away from this emotionally dangerous train of thought. "Kala-Ai, didn't you record our Pledging?" 

"Actually, yes I did. The files are currently stored on the second moon. Why?" 

Clark picked up on the idea. "Is there a way of accessing those files from this distance?" 

"Yes, but you would need the proper equipment." 

"Like the transceiver in my ship?" Clark asked. 

Clark and Kala-Ai grinned conspiratorially and exited the house, running off into the darkness. 

"What was that all about?" Jonathon asked. 

"Clark's ship is in the hold of Kala-Ai's," Lex explained. "He's got a transceiver that he can hook up to the TV in here." He paused. "Those two and their alien technologies, I feel weird not being able to discuss it with them." 

"Now you know how we middle-aged folks feel about computers," Jonathon said wryly as Clark walked in carrying a strange apparatus of wires and crystals. 

Kala-Ai appeared behind him, checking figures on something. "You'll have to wait until 3:47 am local time because the second moon won't rise until then." She then rattled off a set of coordinates in degrees and minutes specifying the exact location in the sky the asteroid would take and how quickly it would move across the sky. Clark responded by getting his telescope to ground level, scouting out a good location along the asteroid's orbit, and setting up the transceiver to pick up the signal and follow it once found. 

* * *

"Oh, that's so romantic, I wish I could have been there," Martha cooed after everything was shown and translated, at about 6 am the next day. 

"`Gods?' `Slime of the seas?'" Jonathon asked. 

Clark blushed. "The whole `gods' thing is an old creation myth, kept because it sounds good. It's only used during ceremonies and rituals like the Pledging. `Slime of the seas' is a reference to the theory of evolution. It was used because most of the people there wouldn't stand for Lex using galactic myth when the intelligent species of this world know better." 

"The `intelligent species of this world?'" 

Clark sighed lightly. "There are no less than 16 intelligent species on this planet capable of interstellar understanding. In fact, one of the premier scientists at Council, promoted after Krypton was destroyed, is native to Earth. He's a bottlenose dolphin. Anyway, not one of those 16 species really considers humanity to be greatly intelligent." 

"Besides," Kala-Ai injected, "the Halkirrans watched humanity evolve from little field rodents. Unless your race is ruled by little rat gods, it's obvious you're not descended from any deities." 

"Who?" Martha asked. 

"The Halkirrans are credited to be the first intelligent species to explore the galaxy. They're descended from Earth's Velociraptor, actually. They left Earth a few thousand years before that meteorite that ended the Cretaceous period. They actually helped the Kryptonians to enter space to become the second race of explorers. The Halkirrans knew beyond any doubt they had evolved from bacteria, but the Kryptonians had kept the old creation myth for ceremony and ritual. The Halkirrans began using it for the same reason. Now, the entire civilized galaxy uses the Kryptonian myth of the Pledged gods for ceremony and ritual." 

"Interesting," Martha said, eager to learn. 

"Wait, wait," Jonathon said as he got up and paced the room. "We don't need a history lesson. I was just wondering." He paused. "Ok, so Clark and Lex have Pledged. They're married. Now what?" 

Kala-Ai thought for a minute before answering. "Now we make up some story of some kind to explain their disappearances, maybe claim Kal-El has an illness or maybe isn't even here so the humans wouldn't see him pregnant. What story did you give the town when they both disappeared?" 

"We told the school that Clark was visiting his grandfather in Coast City for a few months and that he would be taking his finals over the computer. We can claim he's home but with mono or something. That'll give us a good two months. Oh, and the school has been screaming at us to get his final exams from last semester." 

"That we can do today. Do you have the tests?" Clark asked. 

"Right here," Martha answered and handed Clark a stack of papers. He headed off into the living room to start on them. 

"Gabe came to us, wondering why he was made temporary CEO of LexCorp," Jonathon remembered to Lex. "I told him you had gone with Clark to Coast City for a break from your father. Gabe is a trusting man, Lex. Lionel asked around and figured out the stories we gave out were lies. He hasn't told anyone, but he has alluded to it to us many times. Be prepared to be flayed alive." 

"I always am," Lex answered grimly. 

* * *

Lex opened the door to his office at the castle. As expected, Lionel was there waiting for him. 

"So tell me, Lex, what possessed you to for all intent and purposes leave this world for nearly five months?" Lionel asked without so much as a `hello.' 

"If I had had a reason to stay on this world I might have," Lex answered coldly. 

"Perhaps you should have actually looked for reasons," Lionel sneered as he held up Lex's files on Area 51. "You were right about one thing, I am convinced there is, or was an alien being in Smallville. I am also convinced you know much more than you've ever let on. After all, you disappear the night the alien craft from the papers flies off, as does the Kent boy. The feeble cover story the Kents cooked up in a fit of desperation was an obvious lie. And now, you at last reappear within days of a large meteorite strike in Nebraska, an abduction story with someone disturbingly like you as a key player, twin crop circles around Edge City, and a large number of odd radio signals coming from an asteroid in a forced orbit around the Earth, signals directed to this general area. Tell me, Lex, did the aliens really abduct you or did you submit by your own free will?" 

"As I said, Father, if I had had a reason to stay on this world I would have." 

Lionel slammed the files onto the desk as he stood up and stormed to where he heard Lex to be. Lionel grabbed for his son and yanked him close. "And what reason would you have liked, Lex? Perhaps power or a secure future, or maybe even the opportunity to fuck that farm boy you were always so smitten over." 

"I have all the power I need," Lex sneered. "I have a secure future, even if not on this world. And the farm boy, well, that has been arranged. No, the reason I would have liked is to know you would not have attempted to destroy me at every turn as you would have had I stayed. You have no idea the power I wield, the connections I have forged. I was given the opportunity to stay there, the chance to conquer and rule worlds. Instead I chose to return here to your puny little planet and aid the armada in conquering your world." 

Lionel couldn't sense a single lie. "You would forsake your entire race?" he asked harshly. 

"I have always held this philosophy, Father: humanity can kiss my hairless, mutated ass." Lex shook himself out of his father's grip and moved to leave. 

Lionel called after him. "Lex, what of the Kent boy? Am I to assume he left Earth with you considering he was as impossible to find as you?" Lionel smirked at the vibe of anxiety he caught from Lex. 

Lex knew he was caught. There was no way out without leaving a trail to follow, a trail headed directly to the truth. He opted for a vague truth. "Clark knew better than to doubt his own mission," Lex said softly as he left, breaking into a run halfway down the hall to warn the Kents. 

Lionel leaned back onto a wall. His mission, he mused. What mission is this? Lionel closed his eyes, concentrating on the last conversation he had had with both of the boys. He remembered something Clark had said about an alien spy, gathering information for the armada. 

Suddenly, everything clicked. "Clark Kent is the alien of Smallville," Lionel whispered. He pulled his phone from his pocket and called for the limo. This he had to see for himself. 

* * *

Lex pounded on the screen door of the farmhouse, screaming to be let in. Kala-Ai answered. 

"Kala-Ai, where is everybody?" Lex panted. "I need to talk to them. My father knows. He knows Clark and I left Earth last year. He knows we just got back. He knows Clark isn't human. He figured it out himself. We have to warn them." 

Kala-Ai nodded. "You tell Clark, I'll tell the mother, we'll all tell the father. Jonathon is currently in town at the school." 

Lex shook his head. "It can't wait that long. My father will have already begun something by then. Oh, God, Kala-Ai, I'm not sure what he'll do. If anything goes wrong Clark will have to take this world by force, and quickly." 

* * *

Lionel grinned to himself as the limo brought him closer to a power, a reality he had only dreamed of. That he might finally break his son and reclaim him for his own was just an added bonus. 

The call from the driver shook him out of his fantasies. "Sir, your son appears to be here. The silver Ferrari is in the drive and it's smoking at the engine." 

Lionel raised an eyebrow. "I can't remember the last time he ran a car hard enough to burn the engine," he said more to himself than anyone. 

The door opened and the driver led Lionel out and to the door. At Lionel's command, he left the billionaire on the porch. Lionel tapped on the door as the sounds of the limo faded into the distance. 

* * *

A confident knocking caused the four in the kitchen to jump slightly. "Jonathon isn't back yet, is he?" Kala-Ai whispered and got a desperate, scared "no" from Martha in return. 

"I know what you're hiding, Martha. I know what your son is. Let me in and I might not hand him over to the government. I might just keep him for myself." 

Kala-Ai grinned evilly. Despite the panicked looks and frantic head shaking of Martha, Clark, and Lex, she took her natural form, opened the door with her tail, picked Lionel up by the waist with said tail, and dragged him inside without letting him in any way touch floor, wall, or ceiling. She brought him close to her, breathing in his face and brushing him often with her antennae. She sniffed his hair before finally speaking, in Standard. 

"This is the human you fear so?" she asked. "It's old and hides many weaknesses of body and mind and besides, it's human." 

"We fear his connections much more than the human itself," Lex answered, also in Standard. 

"Lex?!" sputtered Lionel, shocked at the alien language flowing so easily from his son's lips. 

"Bah," Kala-Ai dismissed before switching to English. "So you're Lionel Luthor." She linked with him to prove she could search his every thought and sensed the fear this invoked. 

"What do you want with me?" Lionel asked. 

"I want you to sit down, shut up, and listen. You don't want me to have to probe your mind and wipe your memories, do you?" 

Lionel shook his head. 

"Good." Kala-Ai dropped him carefully in a chair. "We have some matters to discuss." 

* * *

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me that the galactic government has its eye set on Earth? And that Clark here has been ordered to conquer it? And that he's pregnant by my son? Whom he also married?" 

"That's right," Martha answered Lionel's end-of-explanation rant. 

Lionel sat back, a hand rubbing his forehead and eyes. "My first and last question. Why?" 

"Because humanity needs a little direction, you know? I mean, there are many intelligent species on this planet, members of the galaxy at large, all smarter than any human. Yet humans are the ones trying to destroy this world. Obviously, something needs to be done. We could just kill all the humans off, but that would mean, well, killing you all off. The best way we could all figure is to conquer the humans over time, enslaving them so slowly and peacefully that they don't even know it was never their decision. The only way we could convince Council to allow me to return and to take up this particular mission would be for us to get married and to give them our first born." Lex and Kala-Ai agreed vocally with Clark's explanation. 

Jonathon walked in the door. "Well, I got Clark's final exams turned in. I managed to convince them not to force him back in yet. All we need is for Lex's doctor friend to get us a note of some kind declaring Clark unfit for school and-" He stopped when he saw Lionel sitting in the living room. "What is he doing here?" 

Lionel turned toward the voice. "Jonathon! Thank god, please, tell me the truth. Tell me there's some sanity left in this town!" 

"He figured the general story out on his own and refuses to believe the details," Clark whispered in his father's ear. 

Jonathon grinned and stalked toward the blind man having a nervous breakdown. He laid a hand on Lionel's cheek, drawing the two of them close together. As their breaths mingled, Jonathon spoke. "Resistance is futile." 

Lionel fainted. 

* * *

Lionel awoke to the unfamiliar feeling of lying on someone's lap. He reached up to feel who it might be and passed his hand over a chest with 4 breasts. He dropped the hand back to his own chest and groaned. 

"The human's awake," Kala-Ai stated, deadpanned, as Lionel groped her. 

"I'm not-" Lionel began. 

Martha walked in with a mug of hot tea. She helped Lionel to sit up and handed him the tea. "No, you haven't been abducted. You're still on Earth. Yes, your son is still married to our alien son. My question is, how will you deal with these facts?" 

"What choice do I have? If I study Clark the way I want to, the galactic empire will destroy me, not to mention Clark himself. If he can take Earth, by force, within two weeks, I do not want him as an enemy." 

Clark grinned. "Will you help us, then?" 

Lionel sighed. "It seems I have little choice." 

Lex couldn't help it. "Of course you have little choice. It's either this, mind control, or we erase your memories." 

"What do I have to do?" 

Clark laid down some terms. "Well, right now I need from you some way to stay out of school legally. There is no way I can set foot outside while this pregnant. I may want your help in determining the extent of my abilities. Oh, and of course there's the little matter of keeping the government off my back while I win your species with my alien charm." 

"What makes you think I would abandon my own race in a time of such obvious need?" Lionel sounded disgusted at the idea of aiding an alien invasion. 

Clark leaned into Lionel. He got so close their noses brushed as Clark spoke. "From your vantage point, you see all. You know how humanity is. I'm giving you the chance to help me correct the imperfections, without destroying them to start anew. I am not you, Lionel. I do not forget those who have aided me. You help me now, I will see to it you are handsomely rewarded. Not with money, no. With power, with technology few humans have ever seen. However, if you refuse, you will be allowed to return to your previous life. You will not remember this day or anything pertaining to it. You will most likely lose several months worth of memory; months you would do well to keep." Clark pulled away. "It's your choice." 

"I'll do it," Lionel sighed. "I'll help you, so long as you do something for me." 

Clark cocked his head. "And what is that?" 

"I want technology." 

Clark smirked. "Deal, but you'll not be getting anything you can use against LexCorp." 

"What about everyone else?" 

"Have fun." 

Lionel leaned back in his chair as his small number of morals were quickly squashed beneath the promise of power and glory. 

Kala-Ai led Clark outside, away from the ears of the humans. "You're collecting some powerful minions, Kal-El," she said, grinning. "Council will be pleased. And so am I." 

Clark smiled. "Thank you." He hugged her. "Thank you for everything." 

* * *

Epilogue 

Zor-La and Kala-Ai stood at a window in their quarters, looking out over the landscape of the moon Titan. The tapping sound behind them drew them away, toward the bed and the egg on it, the egg holding Kal-El's hybrid child. "It's time," Kala-Ai whispered. 

Zor-La nodded, transfixed by the sight as the child pushed against the cracking shell. They drew closer, hold each other as the shell gave with a loud snap. 

The little girl took her first true gasp of air and looked around her in wonder. She gurgled. 

Kala-Ai reached out and stroked the child's pale skin and strangely pale crest. "Hello Kara." 

Kara looked up with her deep blue eyes and trilled. Her future was laid in front of her, waiting for her to take her first step into it, into history. 


End file.
